Ch.86A Time for Change – 5

“….”

Sujin Hyun looked at the men and women gathered in the pitch-black space.

At first glance they might seem ordinary, but all of them are Elders.

The exact number of Elders remains unknown.

Even fellow Elders don’t know how many others exist at their level.

They only know the number of those they can contact like this.

Since they’re extremely reclusive and hate being interfered with.

That’s why having all the Elders summoned like this was an extremely rare occurrence.

‘Everyone who can be contacted or whose name has been revealed at least once is here.’

Being an Elder herself, she knows them well.

They’re people who hate anyone interfering in their lives.

It’s said that relationships between Elders are worse than those between Elders and S-rank ability users.

Their ethnicities and personalities vary widely. The only similarity is their age range.

Most are in their twenties or thirties. Of course, there are always exceptions.

“Ah, hello.”

The girl who approached and greeted her from the side.

Looking terrified, she’s a good example.

She’s probably in her late teens at most. Even being generous, she’s around that age.

In Korea, she’d be barely old enough to have entered high school.

But her true identity is that of an Elder, just like Sujin Hyun.

She’s a monster no less fearsome than herself, if not more so.

“You came too?”

“Y-yes. They said they gathered everyone who could be contacted.”

Sujin Hyun replied that it seemed so, then turned her head away.

If ordinary people saw this scene, what would their reaction be?

They’d probably faint in shock and collapse foaming at the mouth.

The sight of calamities gathered in groups, chatting away.

“What the fuck did you just say?”

[I said shut your whore mouth. You stink like shit.]

“You’re not even worthy to be here, just talking shit through a screen.”

Of course, these aren’t pleasant conversations.

As always, they growl at each other like they want to kill one another when they meet.

As if suffering from extreme hatred of their own kind. They’re all crazy anyway.

At times like this, simultaneous translation devices seem quite unnecessary.

Even when they curse in their own languages, the other person hears it in theirs.

“I wish they’d hurry up and tell us why we were gathered. I don’t want to stay in this stinking place any longer.”

[Agreed. It’s not like I’m seeing faces I’m happy to look at.]

[Fine then, Shadow.]

At the words of an Elder through the screen, Sujin Hyun slightly raised her head.

“What.”

[I think an explanation is needed.]

“What explanation.”

[Didn’t you break the minimal rules we set among ourselves? You should explain that.]

They ignore, curse, provoke, and even fight each other like they want to kill.

The relationship between Elders is different from the concept of comrades from when they were active as ability users.

They can’t even be called business partners. They’re just trash who somehow ended up together.

But even Elders have minimal principles.

That is not to harm another Elder by joining hands with ability users.

It meant not to betray again after having already betrayed once.

[Why did you show such behavior in front of Korea’s S-rank ability user, identification code ‘Road’ Jiyoon Han?]

“What behavior did I show?”

“Don’t play dumb, yellow monkey. You might not have said it outright, but you were just going to watch that bitch kill the ghost, weren’t you?”

The Black woman Elder who was confronting Sujin Hyun earlier sneers.

“I told you, didn’t I? I was preserving our honor. You should be ashamed of losing to a mere examiner. What would I gain by getting serious there? I’d just be laughed at.”

[I agree. I think Shadow did the right thing.]

[You shut up. You just want to pick fights with everything I do.]

[Wow, correct. You knew? That’s why I have to interfere even more.]

[I’ll kill you, you bitch.]

[Sure. Try it~. You coward.]

Signs of division and conflict are already starting to show.

But Sujin Hyun and the other Elders just accepted it as normal.

This is how it always is. Elders are beings who exist solely for themselves.

They’re not people who have been villains since their abilities awakened.

They’re ability users who betrayed their duties.

S-ranks who abandoned their obligations and seized their own desires.

The code name “Elder” was actually given to them by other villains.

“Ah. So it comes to this again.”

“Should we just leave? I feel gross after playing with men all night.”

[Control yourself a bit. You’re not a whore.]

“What can you do about it? That’s why you’re an idiot who gets his women stolen.”

[It’s because you’re such a pervert that men took advantage of you.]

“…Watch your words. Before I rip off your thing and stuff it in your mouth.”

[I don’t understand why you’re so upset about the truth?]

It seemed like they were talking about responsibility for her actions earlier.

But now that topic has faded away, and they’re just fighting among themselves.

There are various reasons. Simply because they don’t get along.

Or because they strongly dislike each other, or because their goals don’t align.

Some might question the idea of goals not aligning.

Elders are ultimately villains, so they all oppose the world in the same way.

There should be no reason to talk about whether goals align or not.

But looking closely, one can see that’s not the case.

It explains why Elders check and fight each other so much.

Some betrayed for revenge. Some for greater power.

Others because they didn’t want to be bound by society’s stifling norms.

Or simply out of fear, or wanting to be king of their own world.

A tiny minority genuinely dream of world destruction.

They became traitors and villains, and thus Elders, for various reasons.

Naturally, when they try to achieve what they want, they clash.

Someone who wants revenge might want to destroy an entire place and massacre everyone.

But to someone who wants to reign as king of the underworld and expand into the light,

That bloody revenge appears only as an interference with their own desires.

If someone wants to establish the law of the strong and become the absolute ruler of that world,

While the person next to them calls for world destruction and mutual annihilation,

Naturally, the one who wants to be absolute ruler views the destroyer unfavorably.

It’s similar with Sujin Hyun and the Black female Elder.

She antagonizes Korean ability users for some reason.

Later, she plans to throw Korea itself into chaos and overthrow it.

Conversely, the Black woman makes big money as a queen of her region through black market deals.

And her main customers are various villain organizations in Korea.

For the money to keep flowing, the tense confrontation needs to continue.

Sujin Hyun keeps interfering with that, so she can’t help but be annoyed.

One seeking revenge, and one wanting to reign as king of her own world.

The friction between these two explains why relationships between Elders are the worst.

“Ah, fuck. You idiots. Come on.”

Frustrated with listening, a man spits out a curse.

“Just tell us why we’re gathered, what you called us for.”

[…First, the reason we gathered is about Shadow’s…]

“Cut the bullshit. That’s not the main point.”

At those words, all the Elders fell silent almost simultaneously.

Everyone vaguely suspected there was another reason they were gathered.

And sensing something was up, everyone came despite their grumbling.

[….]

After a moment of silence, someone behind the screen slowly began to speak.

[The truth is. These days, because we’ve been fighting so much among ourselves, they’ve developed a strange misunderstanding. That Elders aren’t much. Just kids who got tired of their duties and quit.]

“That’s not wrong. We did quit, didn’t we?”

[I agree. It’s self-reflection.]

“Shut up for a bit. Because I’m pissed.”

Before the other Elders could drift into another strange conversation,

The Elder who began speaking continued.

[I’ve heard some interesting news recently. It seems some changes are happening. Gates, monsters, and dungeons. The governments of each country are in close contact with each other.]

“So?”

[I’m thinking we should also seek change. For instance, organizationally, hunting someone down, tearing them apart, and hanging them in public.]

Then one Elder suddenly bursts into laughter.

“Be honest. That’s just an excuse, you want to use this opportunity to kill Bernard, don’t you?”

Bernard. The highest-ranked S-class ability user in Britain.

And one of the top ten strongest in the world.

“Trying to involve us in your personal revenge? I said it before, right? If we do that and a real war breaks out, how many of us would actually lose out?”

Those who desire world destruction aren’t that common among Elders.

Rather, more wish for this world to continue, with themselves as absolute monsters within it.

Or as kings whom no one can control.

But to go in a group and kill an S-rank who is a country’s greatest power?

That would break the implicit rule between the world and villains, between S-ranks and Elders.

A kind of Maginot Line. After that, it’s just a war of annihilation.

[I’m in favor.]

“Are you crazy?”

[We do need some change. Look at the world these days. They’re taking us too lightly, aren’t they?]

“Thanks to the Ghost and Shadow, those two yellow monkeys. I wonder how they could have been pushed back by not even an S-rank, but some unheard-of ability user.”

[The point is this. We Elders also need change.]

At those words, those gathered in the dark space and those behind the screens expressed agreement.

Change. For some, it’s a good excuse to achieve what they want.

Others could increase the value of fear and gain greater benefits.

And for some, it could be one step closer to the destruction they’ve longed for.

“Tell me more. If it sounds good, I’m in.”

[I’m not interested, so I’m leaving. Do what you want.]

Unlike the beginning, the gathering ends rather inconclusively.

But they didn’t gain nothing. Rather, this much is quite significant.

Those monsters joining forces to move together.

For the people of the world, it would be the worst nightmare just to imagine.

‘Not bad, but I’m not interested in those island chinks.’

Sujin Hyun, transformed into a shadow, left the dark space.

‘Come to think of it, it’s ridiculous.’

The sudden gathering of Elders.

The reason was none other than that ‘examiner.’

‘Seojin Baek.’

If it weren’t for him, Hyuk Kwak wouldn’t have been hurt and she wouldn’t have intervened.

And those monsters wouldn’t be talking about change or mentioning it like now.

*

“Hmm.”

“Examiner? What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, Soohyun.”

Is someone talking about me?